This invention relates to the early detection and discovery of malignancy or neoplazic formations in the bodies of humans and animals, and more specifically to a method for superimposing separate digital Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) or Computer Aided Tomograph (CAT) scans recorded at different times to detect variations indicative of malignant growth.
In general, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computer Aided Tomographs (CAT), and radiographs provide medical specialists with high resolution digital images representative of the so internal structures and tissues of both human and animal patients. Such images allow for the examination of the internal structures and tissues without the need for exploratory surgery, greatly benefiting the patient. As powerful tools for detecting cancer, the MRI, CAT, and radiograph images may be visually examined by specialists trained to observe the signs of malignant or abnormal tissue growth. Such visual examination of the images is, however, restricted to locating malignancies or growths which have already obtained a minimum size sufficiently large to be observed visually. This minimum size for visual observation is significantly larger than the highest degree of resolution provided by the images, and is representative of malignancies which have been present in the patient for a significant period of time. Accordingly, patients would greatly benefit from a detection scheme capable of observing and locating malignancies and tumors at an earlier stage of growth, thereby improving the chances for a full and rapid recovery.
One possible way to detect such malignancies and tumors prior to their becoming visible to the human eye on the MRI, CAT and radiographs would be to compare current images of the patient with previous images, and observe any tissue changes. However, previously it has not been possible to provide for direct computer comparison of such images due to the problems presented by superimposing the images. To compare two digital images, a computer must be capable of superimposing one image over the other with a high degree of accuracy. If such a superposition is successful, areas within the images which have changes will be easily detectable. If the superposition is not done with a high degree of accuracy, the computer will observe that the entire image appears to have changed, and any useful information will be lost. Images produced by MRI, CAT, and radiograph scans present further complications for comparison in that the position of the patient may have changed from one image to another, the patient may have grown or shrunk, or may contain different foods within the intestinal tract. Accordingly, images taken at 1 year intervals prior to my invention will never have enough similarity to allow for existing computer comparison methods to be effective.
The coherent superscan early cancer detection method of the present invention overcomes the problems associated with the differences in patient position, size, and internal structures between images usually preventing digital image comparison, by digitally altering one of the images in such a way as to permit computer comparison and detection of malignant growth much sooner than current visual observation allows.